Lowcountry Supper a staple of annual Water Festival
PHOTOS & BRIEF BY BOB SOFALY
What does it take to feed Frogmore Stew to a couple thousand people and entertain them at the same time?
The 63rd annual Beaufort Water Festival has it all figured out. The traditional Lowcountry Supper on Thursday evening at Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park, despite threatening skies and peals of thunder, rolled on like a well-oiled machine.
”We cook up 1,300 pounds of local shrimp for starters,” volunteer cook Jason Dangerfield said prior the supper.
The local delicacy had, for a long time, been prepared at various mess facilities at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, according to Dangerfield.
“Then one year their cookers broke down and we had just a couple of hours to get it done,” he said. “We set up cookers right at the entrance to the park and pulled it off. It worked out so well, we’ve done it that way every year since”.
Dangerfield said the traditional supper also boasts 750 pounds of red or “new” potatoes, 400 gallons of cole slaw, 2,700 dinner rolls, 600 quarts of cocktail sauce, 5,000 ears of corn, and 60 watermelons. All washed down with sweet and unsweet tea or lemonade, of course.
After everyone has had a chance to eat, the entertainment starts, usually a band or two followed by the much-anticipated performance of The Whistlers, a local whistling group made up of past Water Festival commodores.
Photo at top: Head cook Jason Dangerfield opens all four 128-quart coolers filled with smoked sausage, which were served up during the 63rd annual Beaufort Water Festival’s Lowcountry Supper.
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